With his team down 18-7 at halftime on Friday night, Andress coach Patrick Brown challenged his team to play with a greater sense of urgency.

It worked.

The Eagles scored 33 second-half points to beat El Paso, 40-26, at Allan Sepkowtiz Stadium and clinched a playoff spot in the process.

"Our kids responded with a great effort on both sides of the ball," said Brown, who is in his first year coaching at Andress. "I thought the play of our offensive and defensive lines were the difference."

Quarterback Ryan Metz and wide receiver Eddie Sinegal also made a difference for Andress, which improved to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in District 1-4A.

REPORTER

Felix Chavez

Metz threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, while also running for a pair of scores. Sinegal caught eight passes for 272 yards and had two touchdown catches of 40 and 60 yards.

"Ryan made great passes all night long, our offensive line blocked well and I got some great blocks from fellow receiver Omar Barron that helped me make plays," Sinegal said. "I'm just trying to step up when I have the chance and play as well as I can."

El Paso (3-6, 2-4) controlled most of the first half to take the 18-7 halftime lead.

The Tigers ran the ball behind Bryant Wolf, who split his time between running back and quarterback. Wolf, who finished the night with 140 yards rushing and 93 yards passing, scored a touchdown in the first half, while Lucas Andrade added a pair of first-half scores.

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"El Paso is a tough team and played well," Brown said. "We just had to stay patient and make some plays."

El Paso struggled on offense for much of the second half until scoring a touchdown with 4:26 left in the game on a 1-yard run by Andrade. Wolf scored on the two-point conversion to cut the Andress lead to 33-26.

However, Andress responded with a Metz 40-yard touchdown pass to Sinegal to close out the scoring.

"We just have to keep getting better in time for the playoffs," Sinegal said. "We feel like we are making a ton of progress on both sides of the ball. If we can keep moving forward like we have been, I think we can do some good things in the playoffs."

Felix Chávez may be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6167. Follow him on Twitter @fchavezeptimes.